The man who won over the fuddy-duddys of the dance establishment with his groundbreaking all-male version of Swan Lake - innovative choreographer Matthew Bourne - is at it again.

This time it's with his revival of Highland Fling, which combines delicate gothic Scottish ballet with Trainspotting: A junkie world of Glasgow tenements set to dance.

I caught up with the youthful-looking honorary Brightonian (for the last three years Matthew has been the proud owner of a house in Kemp Town) during rehearsals for the show at Sadler's Wells, London.

Highland Fling is based on a rarely performed romantic ballet, La Sylphide, originally set in rural Scotland.

But Matthew and his long-time collaborative designer Lez Brotherston have transported it to contemporary Glasgow, where the beer-swilling, E-dropping hero James is bewitched by an new-age sylph who may in fact be merely a figment of the welder's drug-addled mind.

"I do see parallels between Highland Fling and my Swan Lake," Matthew says. "It's a contemporary link. Swan Lake tied in with all the royal scandal about Prince Charles' rumoured affair with Camilla, which was rife at the time. It's ultimately about a queen trying to marry her son off to a beautiful princess when what he wants is clearly something else.

"Similarly, Highland Fling is about someone wanting to take themselves into another world - drugs that take you to another place seemed so relevant in when we first staged it in 1994 the film Trainspotting had just been released.

"It's a typically Scottish ballet which has several other ideas coming together in it - the combination of the modern club and drug world with traditionalism.

"Most of my pieces have an outsider in them, and illustrate how society can turn against people. I can't do a piece without an honest heart or truth to it."

For somebody who was recently wooed by top director Tim Burton (who wanted him to stage an interpretation of Edward Scissorhands) and has collaborated with the likes of Sir Cameron Mackintosh and the Disney Corporation on Mary Poppins the musical, Matthew is refreshingly down-to-earth.

This could have something to do with his roots in London's East End, which may also influence his productions - a seductive mix of flamboyant showmanship and gritty realism.

It's hard to believe from Matthew's well enunciated vowels that he was born and brought up in Walthamstow, not a part of London known for its high culture.

"I was always into film musicals when I was young," he recalls. "I suppose it's an East End tradition.

"My parents were very enthusiastic fans, so I was always putting on little shows, but I didn't know anything about ballet and modern dance. I just assumed that it wasn't for me.

"I suppose part of the reason I didn't explore it further was that I was at a really rough school. It simply wasn't an acceptable thing to be involved in."

At the age of 15 he began to try his hand at acting, but beat a hasty retreat from the stage when he realised that he hated the sound of his own voice.

"It was just so embarrassing," he laughs. "But it still took another four years before I eventually went to see my first ballet. That was self-education in a weird sort of way.

"I loathed school and felt like I didn't learn anything there, so when I left I wanted to discover things.

"Funnily enough Swan Lake was the first ballet I went to see. It was famous so I knew its name - and then I just started going to see more and more "I became quite obsessive about watching and reading about dance. Then, when I was 22 and working as an usher at The National Theatre, I met some people my age who were at college, studying dance. It spurred me on - I just thought if they can do it so can I."

"I'd never been to a dance audition before so didn't know what to expect. And to be truthful the panel were more impressed with what I'd seen and read."

So at the grand old age of 22 - which Matthew is the first to admit is rather late to come to the discipline - the enthusiastic ex-usher launched himself into a degree in dance theatre.

He says that he thought if he worked hard and got lucky he might just manage to get a job writing about it. What he never considered was that it might lead to him becoming a performer.

"I never thought I would dance," he says wryly. "I knew that I wouldn't qualify until I was 26, and I genuinely thought that was too old to be a dancer."

But Matthew was wrong. After graduating in 1986 he spent a year performing with the Laban Centre's Transitions Dance Company and became a founder member of Lea Anderson's Featherstonehaughs.

He also created many roles for himself with his own company, and retired from the stage in 1999 after playing The Private Secretary in the Broadway production of Swan Lake. "I feel incredibly lucky that I managed to have a stage career for 15 years, he says. "But you have to remember it was mostly in my own work. I wouldn't have been particularly employable if I hadn't been working for myself."

When probed about whether he misses the lure of the bright lights Matthew is quick to respond with his trademark frankness.

"I have to say that I don't miss dancing at all. I've lost my nerve. I couldn't go on stage now, even if I were able to" he says.

"I do sometimes miss the acting part of performing, but mainly I live through the dancers and my shows.

"I get a lot of pleasure out of developing what they do, they're all much better dancers than I ever was."

Matthew's unorthodox entry into a career which jealously guards its reputation for being a high-art profession has, in retrospect, served the award-winning choreographer well.

"Before college I went out nearly every night and learnt an enormous amount," he enthuses.

"The knowledge I gained definitely feeds into what I do now. It all went in.

"I just wish that I could get out like I used to and see more stuff, but I don't have the time any more."

Part of the reason why Matthew has so little free time on his hands is his huge workload, which even now at a mature 45 years old, he shows no sign of easing up on. His phenomenal commercial success has occasionally sparked some jealousy among fellow members of the dance community, something he shrugs off in a matter of fact way.

"I will accept that I'm the most sucessful choreographer in Britain because it's a fact," he says simply.

He launched his current company, New Adventures, in 2002 when his previous troupe Adventures in Motion Pictures was disbanded - partly after a disagreement over management. Matthew's expanding repertoire, which includes revivals of some of his seminal works, The Nutcracker!, Swan Lake and Play Without Words, owes much to his puppy-like enthusiasm for what he does and his willingness to diversify commercially into other genres like film and theatre.

"Everything I do is about collaboration," he explains. "I'm always bringing film ideas to dance, and vice versa. I was a big movie and theatre fan long before I ever got into dance and it shows.

"I've been lucky enough to work with some great directors like Sam Mendes, Trevor Nunn and Richard Eyre so I bring an eclectic mix of genres to the work I do.

"Highland Fling is interesting theatrically in that there are two completely different worlds between act one and two.

"I feel that audiences do have quite low attention spans these days and they need new ideas thrown at them every few minutes - that's something I'm always aware of when I make shows. I hate the idea of being boring even for a few seconds."

Theatre Royal, New Road, Brighton, Tuesday until Saturday 23 April Starts 7.45pm, matinees Thursday and Saturday 2.30pm. Tickets cost £13-£26.